Last week, Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi, a Christian couple who had spent years in modern-day slavery in Punjab province in Pakistan, were brutally beaten and burned to death at the brick kiln where they work after they were accused of blasphemy for desecrating the Holy Qur'an.
While Pakistan does have a law against blasphemy, even the mere allegation of it is enough to provoke religious zealots to instigate a mob that acts as judge, jury and executioner, especially in the power vacuum that is rural Punjab.
However, this case is also a window into a context where Pakistan's feudal lords can act with impunity and religious minorities are vulnerable to abuse, a context where Islamabad's laws don't reach - and in this case, where the label of blasphemy is also a distraction.
There are reports that the blasphemy allegation was made against the couple after the clerks of the kiln tried to prevent them from leaving to work elsewhere, eventually killing them over an unpaid debt. [The Huffington Post UK] Read more
